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Abstract

The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State is the authoritative and definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state. In nearly fifty newly-written articles, scholars offer an account of everything one needs to know about the modern welfare state. The text is divided into eight sections. It opens with three articles that evaluate the philosophical case for (and against) the welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state's history and of the approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended sections, which offer an in-depth survey of current state of knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors (including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of globalisation. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly, unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and retrenchment). The seventh section surveys welfare state experience around the globe (and not just within the OECD). Two final articles consider questions about the global future of the welfare state.

Bibliographic Information

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Print Publication Date:

Jul 2010

ISBN:

9780199579396

Published online:

Sep 2010

DOI:

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579396.001.0001

Editors

Francis G. Castles,editorFrancis G. Castles is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University and at the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) in Bremen.

Stephan Leibfried,editorStephan Leibfried is Professor of Social and Public Policy in the Department of Political Science, Director of the Collabo¬rative Research Center on Transformations of the State (TranState, 2003–2014), Codirector of the Division “Institutions and History of the Welfare State” of the Center for Social Policy Research (ZeS), and faculty member of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS, 2007 ff.), all at the University of Bremen, Germany; also Research Professor at Jacobs University Bremen.

Jane Lewis,editorJane Lewis is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics.

Herbert Obinger,editorHerbert Obinger is Professor of Comparative Public and Social Policy in the Department of Political Science, Codirector of the Division “Institutions and History of the Welfare State” of the Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS), Principal Investigator in the Collabo¬rative Research Center on Transformations of the State (TranState, 2003–2014), and faculty member of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS, 2007 ff.), all at the University of Bremen, Germany.

Christopher Pierson,editorChristopher Pierson is Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham and Director of Teaching and Lead Editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

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